Evaluation of a therapeutic camp: Exploration of personality variables predictive of outcome

David Blank, Pace University

Abstract

This study attempted to evaluate a community based therapeutic respite care summer camp program. By examining the relationships between participation in the respite care summer camp program with parental stress, behavior change and positive growth of children, this study can provide useful information in the assessment and treatment of children with a serious emotional disturbance (SED). To assess the relationships between participation in the camp with parental stress, behavior change and positive growth, information on children, ages 5 to 16 years, was gathered from the caregivers of the children enrolled in the Family Services of Westchester (FSW) respite summer camp program as well as the staff of the camp. Findings indicated that there were significant relationships identified between participation in the FSW respite summer camp program with certain areas of parental stress, certain aspects of behavioral change and positive growth of children. Additionally, utilizing the reliable change indices it was identified that children reported by staff to demonstrate clinically significant issues within the Autism domain of the Devereaux Scale of Mental Disorders (DSMD) exhibited the most positive treatment response while children reported to demonstrate clinically significant issues within the Acute Problems domain of the DSMD exhibited the poorest treatment response. Limitations and directions for future research were discussed, as was the relevance of the current findings for the field of School-Clinical Child Psychology.

Subject Area

Developmental psychology|Clinical psychology

Recommended Citation

Blank, David, "Evaluation of a therapeutic camp: Exploration of personality variables predictive of outcome" (2010). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI3428925.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI3428925

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